International Legal Instruments

To raise awareness about linguistic rights and to provide tools for decision-makers in governments, parliaments, and civil society, UNESCO's MOST Programme has collected the most relevant provisions in international conventions, declarations and multilateral treaties, which pertain to linguistic rights.

• UN and UNESCO Declarations and Conventions Relevant to Linguistic Rights
• UN and UNESCO Recommendations Relevant to Linguistic Rights
• European Declarations and Conventions Relevant to Linguistic Rights 
• Inter-American Declarations and Conventions Relevant to Linguistic Rights
• African Conventions Relevant to Linguistic Rights

The rights of persons belonging to linguistic minorities have been increasingly acknowledged in international human rights law as both individual and collective human rights. For a legal discussion of the provisions listed below see the publications displayed in the Bibliography. 

• UNESCO Constitution (1945)
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
• International Labour Organization Convention No. 107 (1957)
• UNESCO Convention Against Discrimination in Education (1960)
• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966)
• Declaration on Race and Racial Prejudice (1978)
• Declaration on the Human Rights of Individuals who are not Nationals of the Country in Which They Live (1985)
• International Labour Organization Convention No. 169 (1989)
• Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989)
• International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (1990)
• Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities (1992)
• Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (1993)
• Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (1993)
• Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995)
• Declaration and Integrated Framework of Action on Education for Peace, Human Rights and Democracy (1995)
• World Declaration on Higher Education for the Twenty-First Century (1998)
• Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity (2001)

UN and UNESCO Recommendations Relevant to Linguistic Rights

The final documents and recommendations of international conferences concerning education acknowledge the role that education can have in promoting language diversity and ensuring linguistic rights. The Draft Recommendation on the Promotion and Use of Multilingualism and Universal Access to Cyberspace (2001) promotes language preservation and diversity through access to electronic services and resources.

• Recommendation Concerning the Status of Teachers (1966)
• Recommendation on the Development of Adult Education (1976)
• Recommendation No. 77 to Ministries of Education on the Struggle Against Illiteracy (1990)
• Recommendation No. 78 to Ministries Responsible for Education and Culture Concerning the Contribution of Education to Cultural Development (1992)
• Hamburg Declaration on Adult Learning (1997)
• The Draft Recommendation on the Promotion and Use of Multilingualism and Universal Access to Cyberspace (2001)
• Recommendations to UNESCO for Action Plans on the Safeguarding of Endangered Languages (2003)

European Declarations and Conventions Relevant to Linguistic Rights 

Within the frameworks of the Council of Europe, the European Union and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE, formerly CSCE), the rights of persons belonging to regional and minority language groups have been addressed in multilateral treaties and conventions. The most important are:

• European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (1950)
• European Convention on the Legal Status of Migrant Workers (1977)
• Concluding Document of the Stockholm Conference on Confidence- and Security-Building Measures and Certain Aspects of Security and Disarmament in Europe (1986)
• Concluding Document of the Vienna Meeting (1989)
• Charter of Paris for a New Europe (1990)
• Document of the Copenhagen Meeting (1990)
• Document of the Moscow Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension (1991)
• Helsinki Summit Decisions (1992)
• Treaty of European Union (1992)
• European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (1992)
• The Declaration on National Minorities by the Summit Meeting of the Council of Europe (1993)
• Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (1994)
• Oslo Recommendations Regarding the Linguistic Rights of National Minorities (1998)
• Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (2000)

Inter-American Declarations and Conventions Relevant to Linguistic Rights 

A number of instruments deal with language rights, and in some cases to the linguistic rights of indigenous peoples, in the Organization of American States (O.A.S.) regional human rights system:

• American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man (1948)
• American Convention of Human Rights (1969)
• Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1988)
• Draft American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (1997)

The regional system for the protection of human rights established under the Organization of African Unity has similarly addressed linguistic rights issues in two treaties:

• African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (1981)
• African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (1990)